US Senate candidate Mark Lamb has repeatedly claimed his Republican rival Lake Kari “surrendered to the system” while calling him a “total coward” for ensuring election integrity on Thursday during an online forum that was the closest to a debate the two Republicans have had in eight months.
Lake, a former television host and Republican favorite, largely ignored Lamb’s comments, emphasizing that she has the support of former President Donald Trump.
Near the end, Lake finally unloaded the Pinal County sheriff, taking a rare measure of an opponent she normally doesn’t recognize.
“I fought for electoral integrity. I currently have cases in the courts and I know (Lamb) doesn’t think I’m a fighter,” Lake said. “There aren’t many people who have the ability to fight. I’ve taken every blow fighting for security in our elections. Sheriffs have the ability to fight, and the Pinal County Sheriff cowered. He’s a total coward when it comes to of electoral integrity.”
For his part, Lamb summed up his often-forgotten candidacy in a single question for Republican voters:
“The stakes are very high. If you were hiring someone to run your company, would you put someone there who really had no experience in any of this?” Lamb said.
“Right now, we need people who are proven conservative fighters. While I appreciate your passion, this is not the race. This is not the time.
“You are going to put someone in there who is a proven winner, who has won two elections, defeated the Democrats, who understands the issues that are affecting Americans and Arizonans, which are the border – the No. 1 issue – the economy, crime, National security.”
The hour-long forum was organized by AMAC Action, the political arm of the Association of Mature American Citizens, which bills itself as the conservative alternative to AARP. It was a rare opportunity for Republicans to consider their options in a race where Lamb rarely attacked Lake and she waited until the general election.
Both Republicans are running for the chance to replace retiring Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., is the only Democrat on the ballot.
Lamb and Lake were not together and each spoke in timed segments that ensured they could not really engage the other. For most of their segments, they agreed on the importance of tighter border security and the economic damage of persistently high inflation.
Lake reminded listeners that she was the only one who had Trump’s support and who shared his priorities for America. Lamb has consistently positioned himself as the candidate with elective experience who knows the responsibility of acting as sheriff.
But in the end, both candidates abandoned subtlety to present their proposal to conservatives.
Lake said he wants to cut the federal budget in half.
“I will never vote to reduce or harm Social Security,” Lake said, adding that he will protect the program’s future by cutting other expenses.
“I think we can reduce the federal government by 50%. Most are overly burdened with employees who do nothing. They don’t even show up for work,” she said.
Lamb went after Lake.
“I know Kari says she is a fighter and is doing this. It’s easy to talk about this if you’ve never served. It’s one thing to actually do it. I actually had to make these difficult decisions,” he said, listing his resistance to COVID-19 lockdowns and mask mandates.
This led her to call him a coward.
Lamb began his next comments by noting, “I think I may have touched a nerve.”
Lake, he said, did not complain about voting problems in his race until he lost the 2022 gubernatorial election, as he searched for evidence of widespread fraud in his county.
“I don’t think Joe Biden got 81 million votes, but I don’t live in the world of feelings and thoughts. I live in the world of evidence, of what you can prove in court beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said. “Any of these people, including Kari, or any of them could have brought me evidence that could have been used in court for me to do something about it.”
Comings and goings were a rarity. Lake did not agree to participate in a debate organized by the nonpartisan Clean Elections Commission. She suggested she would debate Lamb if the event were hosted by the Arizona Republican Party, but the party says it has no plans to do so.
Lamb claimed, without evidence, that he “only lost a few points.” At least three publicly available polls since February have shown Lake leading Lamb by at least 25 percentage points. In one of the few general election polls featuring Lamb, he trailed Gallego in October by 4 percentage points.
This article originally appeared in the Arizona Republic: Arizona Senate Race: Kari Lake Calls GOP Rival Mark Lamb a Total Coward
